The present invention relates to the brake pedal of a vehicle, and more particularly to a brake pedal supporting structure of the vehicle to prevent a pedal arm of the brake pedal mounted in an inner space inside the car from being pushed toward a driver at the time of a car crash, so as to reduce injury to the driver.
In general in front of and around the driver""s seat, there are provided a plurality of various operating units necessary for the driver to operate; such as, a steering wheel mounted via a steering axle on the instrument panel for steering the vehicle, a clutch pedal, brake pedal and accelerator pedal, respectively, disposed at the lower part of the vehicle to be selectively used in shifting, braking and increasing speed.
As shown in FIG. 1, the brake pedal 10 is provided with a pedal arm 18 whose upper portion can rotate via a hinge point 18a at a mounting bracket 16 whose front and upper ends are, respectively, fixed onto a dash panel 12 and a cowl panel 14 which separates an inner space in the car and the engine area. A brake booster 20 is connected with an end of an actuating rod 22 coupled with the pedal arm 18 to penetrate through the dash panel 12, and the brake booster 20 is screwed through the coupled part of the dash panel 12 and the mounting bracket 16.
Also, a steering column 24 is assembled on a side of the pedal arm 18 to accommodate a steering axle 23 and is supported by a bracket 28 which is disposed at a steering column supporting member 26 of the chassis.
On the other hand, the upper end of the mounting bracket 16, which rotatively supports the upper portion of the pedal arm 18, is coupled with the bracket 15 attached below the cowl panel 14. The upper end of the mounting bracket 16 can be detachable if it is deformed by being pushed to the inside of the car at the time of a car crash, thereby reducing the impact of the pedal arm 18 hinged at the mounting bracket 16 on the lower part of the driver""s body. The detailed description about the structure thus constructed will be omitted because it has already been disclosed.
Even if the upper end of the mounting bracket 16 which rotatively supports the upper portion of the pedal arm 18 is detachable from the cowl panel 14, the brake booster 20 is pushed toward the inside of the vehicle to make the actuating rod 22 push the pedal arm 18 to the rear at the time of a car crash. At this time, even if the upper end of the mounting bracket 16 is detached from the cowl panel 14, the pedal arm 18 is pushed to the rear by the actuating rod 22, thereby inevitably, giving an impact upon the lower part of the driver""s body.
The object of the present invention is presented to solve the above-described problem and to provide a brake pedal supporting structure to prevent the pedal arm from being pushed toward the inner space inside the car at the time of a head-on collision or which can forcibly rotate the pedal arm to the front via the pedal arm pushing preventing means or pedal arm rotating means fixed at the chassis, thereby ruling out any impact given by the pedal arm onto the lower part of the driver""s body to reduce the possibility of injury.
In order to accomplish the above-described object of the present invention, there is provided a brake pedal having a pedal arm coupled with a mounting bracket attached to a dash panel and a cowl panel to rotate via an actuating rod and a hinge point of a brake booster, wherein the pedal arm pushing preventing means is fixed at the rear portion of the pedal arm to face a predetermined interval of the total length of the pedal arm including the hinge point to prevent the pedal arm from being pushed to the rear by the brake booster which is pushed toward the inner space inside the car at the time of a head-on collision.
In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide a pedal arm rotating means disposed at the rear portion of the pedal arm somewhat apart from the hinge point opposite the lower portion of a hinge point to enable the lower portion of the pedal arm to rotate to the front at a center point to contact the lower portion of the hinge point at the time of the car crash.